In partnership with

SPECTRUM

Now Closed - watch this space for details of SPECTRUM 2016 at the YMCA Christchurch

Street Art at the YMCA

1. Wild Style and substance

Appropriately our first installation pays homage to the spraycan kings of New York City, who, in a hostile environment in the 1970s and 80s, gave birth to a new art form. Their art stirred imaginations across the planet resulting in the global phenomenon we now know as "street art".

2. Enter Through The Thrift Shop

Street art has a long history of 'upcycling' - corporate logos, famous paintings and advertising hoardings have all been modified and reworked. Milton Springsteen has spent the last 24 months or so scouring thrift shops to find unwanted artworks and then updating them in his own inimitable way.

3. Stick Em Up

Paste-ups and stickers are a quick and easy way for artists to get there work seen; this installation, by Christchurch artists Dr Suits, Jen, Porta, Reuben Woods and Xpres Izm features both. Innovatively it offers visitors a way to simultaneously interact with the artwork and social media.

4. Sofles Quicksilver

Sofles and filmmaker Selina Miles have worked together for almost 10 years pushing the boundaries of graffiti art in films such as "Infinite" and "Limitless." Quicksilver is their first ever collaborative art installation; paint, light and sound is twisted to create a truely immersive experience.

5. From Tags to Riches

Tilt, from France, is famed for his ‘Panic Rooms’ - he covers exactly 50% of a white, furnished room with a cacophony of colour. Banksy is the world's most talked about artist and his work is collected by the rich and famous. Here we bring them together to represent street art’s meteoritic rise.

6. DTR Crew

DTR is recognised as Christchurch’s foremost graffiti art crew. And SPECTRUM sees Dcypher, who is now based in Los Angeles, return to his home city to, once again, link up with two of the stars of the RISE Festival, Ikarus and Wongi, to create what promises to be an epic production.

7. Larger Than Light

Larger Than Light is delivered in a massive room with a huge 6 metre high wall running the whole of its 24 metre length. That wall will be split into 8, 3 metre wide sections each painted a different colour of the Spectrum.

Our 8 headline artists all have a very distinct style, each exemplifying a different aspect of the street art genre. Each artist will deliver their work on one of the 3 metre wide sections just using shades of one of the 8 colours.

Sitting 12 metres back off the wall will be 8 brightly lit, giant spray cans almost 4.5 metres tall, the rest of the room will be blacked out except for the 8 sections, all of which will be lit from light beaming from the nozzles of the cans.

Duncan Cotterill Great Art Giveaway

Great Art Giveaway

On Sunday 29 march, Oi YOU! X YMCA, in partnership with Duncan Cotterill, will be giving away 36 works of art worth $5,000!

The artworks by Klaas Breukel, each laser cut into wood, are a unique take on the Can O’ Peas ‘produce’ found in the SPECTRUM shop in the YMCA on Hereford Street.

In true treasure hunt style, 30 will be up for grabs to anyone who finds a token cunningly hidden in the Botanic Gardens opposite the YMCA.

And if you can’t make this date, be in with a chance of winning one of the remaining 6 by entering the draw from 14 March at the SPECTRUM Shop at the YMCA. Winners drawn 5.30PM 29 March at SPECTRUM at the YMCA.

Around the City

Big Walls

Over the opening weekend of SPECTRUM all of the artists brought in for the show will be working across the city streets transforming blank walls into great works of art.

And to offer a taste of what’s to come, Los Angeles-based Christchurch legend Dcypher will be painting his huge wall during the month of January.

The location of all the walls will be announced on the lead into the Festival so make sure you get along to see the artists in action.

Check out the RISE video for a reminder of some the amazing walls that have already been painted in Christchurch.

Canterbury Museum

T-shirts Unfolding

T-shirts have been adopted by many street artists as mobiles canvases, no surprise, knowing that at any point in time billions of people, across the globe, are wearing one.

‘T-shirts Unfolding’ not only features designs by street artists but also traces the story of tees back over their 100 year history. A legacy that has seen them become the world’s most popular item of clothing.

Suspended 2.5 metres off the ground will be a spectrum of 800 colour codes tees including classics that everyone will remember. At ground level, visitors will wander through a T-shirt ‘magazine’ including insightful and amazing anecdotes about the most iconic of garments.